Engine starter



1966 MASANORI lNAGAKl 3, 5

ENGINE STARTER Filed Oct. 29, 1964 INVENTOR. MASANORI INAGHKI 5 AT'TO N United States Patent ENGINE STARTER Masanori Inagaki, Nishio-shi, Japan, assignor to Nippon Denso Kabushiki Kaisha, Kariya-shi, Japan Filed Oct. 29, 1964, Ser. No. 407,474 Claims priority, application Japan, Aug. 11, 1964,

2 Claims. (Cl. 74-7) The present invention relates to an improved engine starter for internal combustion engines devised in an effort to minimize the axial size thereof by adopting a spring as the lever for moving the ove-rrunning clutch.

Heretofore a plate spring has been employed as the lever itself for this kind of engine starter and has been so devised that it is borne within the housing with the approximate center of said lever as a fulcrum so as to drive the overrunning clutch, and therefore, the lever of said plate spring bends in both directions at the times of engaging and detaching of the overrunning clutch, and a delayed detachment of the pinion often occurs at the time for detaching.

In order to eliminate the aforementioned defect in engine starters the present invention has been conceived so as not to give rise to the delayed detachment of the pinion from a ring gear at the time of detaching, by arranging a spring to be used as the lever in a manner so as to work in one direction only for the springing action.

The present invention will be better understood and objects and advantages hereof will become apparent through a preferred embodiment illustrated taken in connection with the attached drawings, in which;

FIG. 1 is a partial longitudinal section view of the driving means of an engine starter according to the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view; and

FIG. 3 is a view similar to FIG. 1, but showing the elements when the pinion gear of the starter motor engages a ring gear.

Referring now more particularly to the accompanying drawings, wherein like and corresponding parts are designated by similar reference characters, 1 denotes a pinion gear which is fixedly connected to the overrunning clutch 2 and is rotatably mounted on the rotatably driven shaft 3 along with said clutch 2. 4 is a lever having one end embracing a coupling sleeve 2 that is fixedly connected to said clutch 2, while the other end of said lever is provided with a stop 5. 6 is a pin connected to housing and which rotatably supports said lever 4 and also the coiled center of a spring 7 whose one end 7 is fixedly connected to a plunger 8 operated by an electromagnet not shown in the drawings, while the other end 7" of said spring engages the side of lever 4. In addition, 9 denotes a ring gear which can mesh with the pinion 'gear 1, and 10 is a part of the housing for the engine starter.

The operation in the foregoing mechanism will now be described as follows:

The electro-magnet not shown in the drawings is energize-d causing the plunger 8 to be pulled in the direction of the arrow B, so that one end 7 of the spring 7 is also pulled in the direction of the arrow B while the other "ice end 7" resiliently presses against the lever 4. Consequently, the said lever 4 pushes the coupling sleeve 2 in the direction of arrow B, the overru-nning clutch 2 advances in the arrow B direction along with the pinion 1, and then the said pinion strikes at the side of the ring gear 9. Further, when the plunger 8 is pulled in the arrow B direction causing the pinion gear 1 to strike at the side of the ring gear 9 the spring 7 will bend, so that the pinion gear 1 will be forcibly pressed against the ring gear 9. At this time the starter motor, not shown in the drawings, starts to rotate, so that the pinion gear 1 is engaged with the ring gear 9 to start the internal combustion engine connected to said ring gear.

Now when the pinion gear 1 moves from the ring gear 9, the end 7 of the spring '7 is pushed against the arrow B direction. At this time, as the upper part of the spring 7 strikes at the stop 5 of the lever 4, no bending of spring 7 will take place, and the spring 7 works like a rigid body along with the lever 4 so as to bring the pinion 1 off the ring gear 9.

As the foregoing description has disclosed, the engine starter of the present invention is very effective in that no delayed detachment of the pinion from the ring gear will take place since it is provided with a lever which works in one direction only in which the springing action brings the pinion into engagement with the ring gear 9.

What is claimed is:

1. An engine starter comprising a starter housing, a driven shaft, an overrunning clutch rotatably mounted on said shaft, a pinion carried by said clutch, a coupling sleeve carried by said clutch, a lever pivotally connected to said housing, said lever having one end engaging said coupling sleeve and a stop at its opposite end, a moveable plunger, and a spring pivotally connected to said housing, bearing at one end against said lever and having its opposite end connected to said plunger and capable of engaging said lever stop at times for pivoting said lever.

2. An engine starter comprising a starter housing, a driven shaft, an overrunning clutch rotatably mounted on said shaft, a pinion carried by said clutch, a coupling sleeve carried by said clutch, a pin connected to said housing, a lever pivotally mounted on said pin having a stop at one end and embracing said coupling sleeve at its opposite end, a spring having a coiled medial portion pivotally mounted on said pin, bearing at one end against said lever, its second end bearing against said stop tending to retain said lever against pivoting and a moveable plunger connected to said spring second end and capable of moving said spring from said stop bending said spring whereby said lever is pivoted moving said clutch, coupling and pinion in one direction.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,188,902 2/ 1940 Kauffman 74-7 X FOREIGN PATENTS 923,883 2/1955 Germany.

MILTON KAUFMAN, Primary Examiner. 

1. AN ENGINE STARTER COMPRISING A STARTER HOUSING, A DRIVEN SHAFT, AN OVERRUNNING CLUTCH ROTATABLY MOUNTED ON SAID SHAFT, A PINION CARRIED BY SAID CLUTCH, A COUPLING SLEEVE CARRIED BY SAID CLUTCH, A LEVER PIVOTALLY CONNECTED TO SAID HOUSING, SAID LEVER HAVING ONE END ENGAGING SAID COUPLING SLEEVE AND A STOP AT ITS OPPOSITE END, A MOVABLE PLUNGER, AND A SPRING PIVOTALLY CONNECTED TO SAID HOUSING, BEARING AT ONE END AGAINST SAID LEVER AND HAVING ITS OP- 